Two of the biggest reasons the North Carolina Tar Heels are favored to win the national championship are overall talent and depth. Roy Williams will have to tap into both when he starts the 2008-2009 season.

UNC will be without guard/forward Marcus Ginyard for at least eight weeks. Ginyard had surgery to place a screw in his left foot to correct a stress fracture.

"You hate this for Marcus because he has worked so hard to get ready for his senior season, but he decided it was better to have the surgery now and be ready sometime in December, than risk a more substantial injury that would knock him out of action later in the season," says head coach Roy Williams. "We will miss his play on both ends of the floor as well as his leadership with the young players. I am hopeful others will step forward to fill those roles. Marcus has been a joy to coach and I look forward to his return."

The woman who filed the complaint, a 19-year-old student, didn't show up for the civil hearing. Neither did Miles.

At about 8:16 p.m., according to the report, Miles was alleged to have violated the order by placing a phone call to the protected party. He was arrested and released later that night after posting a $2,500 surety bond.

Miles is due in court on Tuesday.

While the incident may not appear to be severe, it has to be a bit troubling for the Huskies. Miles, 20, attended five high schools in four years, and coach Jim Calhoun had a well-publicized battle with athletic director Jeff Hathaway just to get Miles admitted into the school.

The new-ish Great West Conference will begin their first Division I men's basketball season in 2009-2010. The conference was created from the few Division I independent programs and a couple moving up to that status.

As of now, the members are North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah Valley University, Houston Baptist, Texas-Pan American and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

No, that's not exactly a roster of elite hoops programs. However, Seattle could join the conference at some point. Seattle's most notable contribution to basketball was Elgin Baylor. Baylor led Seattle to the 1958 NCAA Tournament Championship game where they lost to Kentucky.

The Great West was a football-only conference when it was formed in 2004.

Yes, geography is a problem. I mean, the league stretches from New Jersey to Utah and will become the 2nd most expansive conference (behind the WAC, which houses Hawaii). But it was set to help the student-athletes having something to compete for and not feeling like a traveling roadshow.